The Maldives is heaven on earth!! ! Everyone should visit there at least once in their life to see the turquoise ocean with crystal clear water, snow-white sand and many green islands in the middle of the ocean... The Maldives is a very beautiful country! Believe me, having been there, the sea will leave impressions... even the ocean... And the Indian Ocean itself is simply amazing! The color of the water is simply mesmerizing: from the turquoise lagoons to the deep blue depths of the ocean. You can admire it for hours... I have not seen such bright and saturated colors either on the Red Sea in Egypt (which is considered one of the most beautiful), or on the Aegean Sea in Greece, or on the Mediterranean Sea in Turkey and Cyprus (although there is also some water clean and transparent! Nothing beats the Indian Ocean in the Maldives! Yes, it is in the Maldives, because in Thailand the same ocean is completely different: the water is very muddy, dirty and visibility is no more than a meter. In the Maldives, everything looks different... like in a fairy tale!
And from a bird's eye view, the Maldives seemed to me even more beautiful! Therefore, I advise you not to spare money for a transfer from the airport to the hotel, since a seaplane flight is worth the money that they charge for it (it has special ventilation windows through which you can take a picture of all the beauty of this wonderful country).
Flight duration - 25 minutes, no more. It was very unexpected that the seaplane did not deliver us immediately to the hotel, but to a raft in the middle of the Indian Ocean, far from the islands. Together with the luggage, the pilots dropped us off, and flew away themselves. Very extreme! But soon a boat sailed, which took us to our island of Ranveli, where we were met with cool towels and treated to cocktails. By the way, while we were sailing, we saw flying fish and dolphins (the second time we saw dolphins from the island).
The Ranveli Village hotel occupies the entire island. The island itself is small, but very green, a lot of all living creatures (especially birds, flying foxes and crabs). Tall palm trees grow all around, strewn with coconuts, many of which lean right over the water, exotic plants and fruits, many flowers, there is a mini-Christmas tree (I think they decorate it for the New Year). There are many hammocks on the island (one is even located on a palm tree above the water), there are also swings with soft cushions where you can have fun. Ranveli Village has a lot of beautiful places where you can take pictures. By the way, those pictures that are posted on the Internet in the description of the hotel do not reflect the real beauty of this island (probably an inexperienced photographer took it). What we saw live turned out to be much more beautiful!
On the one hand, the island has turquoise lagoons, where the maximum depth is waist-deep (expanse for children or for those who are afraid to swim. Here we usually dragged loungers directly into the water, lay and enjoyed the sun), and on the other, there is a house reef where you can swim, dive and watch the fish. I have never seen such a quantity and variety of fish anywhere else: from small to huge and all colors of the rainbow! And to see the inhabitants of the ocean, it is not necessary to dive to the depths with scuba gear, you can just snorkel (i. e. swim on the surface of the water with a mask and snorkel). Eyes run wide from the number of colorful fish and various corals (most of the corals, unfortunately, seem to be dead due to warming water, but new ones are growing in their place. It’s still very beautiful! We really regretted that we didn’t take a box with us on the camera underwater photography). Provided that the water temperature was 27 degrees (we rested from March 2 to March 12.2008), then we don’t want to climb out of the ocean at all. The advantages of the Maldives include the weather, which is favorable all year round (it did not let us down either: the heat was 30-35 degrees, and for all 11 days it rained only once, and after it - a huge rainbow)!
The beach itself is very clean with white sand that does not heat up a bit! The only drawback is that in some places fragments of old corals interfere with the entrance to the water. Could clean up! By the way, do not believe that there are few sunbeds on the beach, there are enough of them and enough for everyone! However, those who wanted to take a place under a palm tree (since the sun is very active in the Maldives - the equator is still - do not forget to take a couple of sunscreens with a strong protection factor), had to get up early and take sunbeds, and so, no one was left without a place ! There are also sun loungers near each house, but there is always a shadow there! This is because of the tropical vegetation, which is so abundant on the island that 2-storey houses (4 rooms in each: the second floor has a balcony, the first floor has a terrace) are not visible from the beach at all. Disadvantages of the rooms: firstly, even though all the houses overlook the ocean, but it is not visible from the room (all because of the same vegetation); secondly, despite the fact that all the rooms are cozy and spacious, they are not 4 *: the furniture and plumbing are all old, the lack of a hairdryer, and the lighting is rather weak (although lighting is probably a problem for all the Maldives, not this hotel). But the situation in the rooms, I think, is not the most important thing in the rest, since we are the smallest part of them (we come to take a shower and sleep), the main thing is that the air conditioner is good, and it works perfectly!
The roomboy cleans the room twice a day and makes the bed in an original way almost every day (even without a tip). Once we left him $10, and on the last night a surprise was arranged for us: the whole bed was strewn with fresh flowers laid out in the form of hearts. Very nice! By the way, I read in reviews about other hotels that money is stolen directly from the safe in the room. On our island, everything was fine with this, and I didn’t hear any complaints from other tourists! Personally, we did not even use the safe, which was free at the reception, but kept money, passports and valuables in a suitcase with a combination lock. Our roomboy didn't even touch the suitcase and valuables that we sometimes forgot to put away.
All the houses in the hotel are located along the main sandy path (there is no asphalt on the island at all, so you can forget about shoes and, especially, about heels, walk barefoot even to bars and restaurants, enjoying this pleasant sand for the entire rest period). The houses located on the lagoon (or restaurant) side have their own beach, unlike the houses along the coral reef (spa side). Therefore, I consider our room number 34 and all rooms from 30 to 45 to be the best on the island, since they have direct access to the beach, which is very convenient!
The island has a spa, a diving center (you can also rent a snorkel kit there - a mask, snorkel and flippers - for $ 10 per day), a swimming pool (although who needs it when there is such an ocean), a conference room with a TV (but shows only one channel), a gym - $ 5 (albeit very small, but no one needed it in such a heat), a library (there are books in Russian left by tourists), an Internet cafe - $ 5 for 15 minutes, billiards - $ 6 per hour, table tennis (racquets can be taken at the reception for free), volleyball court on the beach (tourist tournaments against locals are held daily at 17.30), various water sports on the beach (double kayak - $20 per hour, etc. ). In principle, there is enough entertainment at the Ranveli Hotel, the only thing missing was tennis. There is one restaurant and 3 bars on the island (on the beach, near the pool and next to the restaurant).
The pool bar usually hosts most of the daily (with the exception of Monday - a day off) evening programs: an evening of national Maldivian music, a screening of modern films and films of the underwater world of the Indian Ocean. There you can also play cards and other board games (which are on the bar), and there are also various cocktails, which are 20% off in the evening (the so-called happy hours). Of course, due to the fact that this is still an island and everything is imported, the prices are appropriate: alcoholic cocktails - $ 6-9, bottled beer - $ 4, a bottle of wine - $ 30, a bottle of capital vodka - $ 45, a bottle of tequila - $ 54 , a bottle of water 1.5 liters - $ 3 (water in the Maldives is not very good, because due to the fact that there is nowhere to take it from, they desalinate sea water), ice cream - $ 3-6, a glass of ordinary juice - 2.5 $, freshly squeezed - $ 4. Plus 10% service charge (even for excursions and souvenirs sold at the hotel).
The cocktails are good, very tasty, which cannot be said about freshly squeezed juices, which, either in order to save money or because they do not know how, the bartenders do this: they put ice and a few pieces of fruit in a shaker, pour some water and mix everything . They call it fresh juices! After I saw the whole process, the next time I asked to do the same without water and ice. It turned out not juice, but fruit puree, because apparently they don’t know about juicers and all juices are made in shakers. The juices in their boxes are also not very good (not even juices, but nectars), although I thought that there are a lot of fruits at the equator and juices should be incomparable. In a word, their juices cannot be compared with our Tropicana, J-7 or Rich (we even treated them so that they know what juices should really be)! Therefore, if possible, take drinks to the Maldives with you (we took 5 liters of juice and 3 liters of mineral water so that we had something to drink in the room, and we had enough for 11 days), including alcohol, despite the fact that The Maldives is dry law and you can’t carry it! But we turned out to be smarter and still brought alcohol! The trick was that we put soft drinks in large bottles in a suitcase with clothes, poured vodka and martini into empty 0.5 l Sprite bottles, and rum and cognac from Coca-Cola and put them in a bag along with shampoos, shower gels and all sorts of things. When we went through baggage control at the airport (all things were translucent), we were asked to show what was in the suitcase: they looked at the mineral water for a very long time, shook the bottles to see if a snake appeared (like in vodka), checked the seals on the juice caps - but found nothing. Apparently, having seen so many large 1.5-liter and 2-liter bottles in a suitcase, they were glad that they would find alcohol in them, and did not notice at all the small bottles in the bag, which contained all the most interesting things... This is how we transported alcohol ! Maybe our advice will come in handy for someone, or maybe someone will come up with their own original way.
The main bar is located next to the restaurant, there is also a dance floor, where a disco is held 2 times a week on Wednesdays and Sundays (due to the fact that in their capital - Male - it is difficult to get discs with new music, they play mainly hits 80-90s and a couple of modern songs; therefore, I advise you to bring your favorite CDs with you, or even better, give them as a keepsake) and crab races are held once a week (you pay $ 2 for the crab you like, and if it turns out to be the first, then win a beer).
Due to the fact that Ranveli Island is small, the restaurant is located on the water, which I even consider a plus for the hotel. Firstly, the restaurant has a very beautiful view of the ocean and the island itself (great photos are obtained), and secondly, while sitting and eating at your table, at the same time you feed the fish that are swarming near the restaurant (of course if the table is well placed). We had a nice, friendly waiter, and he gave us a table in one of the best places in the restaurant! In general, it is very convenient that a table and a waiter are assigned to each room number for 2 persons (if desired, immediately behind two rooms for 4 persons), and you do not have to rush to a restaurant to take empty seats, as in Turkey or Egypt, How do you know that no one will sit in your place.
The food in the restaurant is very good! Despite the fact that there is not such a huge variety of dishes as in Turkey, the food is very tasty and always fresh (although in Turkey you will pick up full plates of all sorts of things, and half will be inedible, but here everything is enough and everything is edible). Mostly European cuisine prevails, and due to the fact that the majority of tourists on the island are Italians (there were only 8 of us from Russia), Italian dishes are offered daily: pasta, pizza and lasagna. There is also always meat, chicken and fish, potato dishes (different every day), salads, fresh vegetables, for hot dishes - very tasty soups that cannot be refused. Disadvantages of nutrition: only 3-4 types of fruits (very sweet papaya, amazingly delicious pineapples, apples, oranges, there were also royal bananas and passion fruit a couple of times - it could have been more! ), and very few pastries (although it is unlikely that anyone need something after so much delicious food). In general, the cook in the restaurant is a GOOD WOMAN, he can be given 5 points!! ! Tea, coffee and juices at breakfast are free. We took food 3 times a day, we were satisfied!
The service in the restaurant and bars is very good! In general, the Maldivians are very friendly people (their kind eyes speak about this), who always smile, say hello 10 times a day and treat Russians well! The only drawback is that they absolutely do not know the Russian language. There is no Russian-speaking guide on the island, but all the necessary information about the hotel is at the reception (those who do not know English at all, take an English-Russian dictionary with you). Considering that almost all the staff are educated and know 3-4 languages, then soon, I think, they will also speak Russian, as they have a desire.
As for souvenirs, I can say that it’s better not to buy them on the island, since duty free has a much larger choice and prices are lower due to the fact that there is no 10% markup on each item purchased.
As a result, we spent on everything, without denying ourselves anything, about $ 1000 for two (including souvenirs - $ 150-200, two excursions "Fishing at Sunset" - $ 80 ($ 20 per person for 1 excursion), participation in crab races - no more than $ 5, several games of billiards - about $ 15, kayak rental - $ 20, duty free - about $ 250).
I have not been to other islands and I have nothing to compare the Ranveli hotel with, but I can say one thing: I really liked not so much the hotel as the Maldives themselves! I fell in love with this beautiful country!! ! A trip to the Maldives was a birthday present for me that I will remember for a lifetime! I look at the pictures and I want to go back to this PARADISE… called MALDIVES!! !
And from a bird's eye view, the Maldives seemed to me even more beautiful! Therefore, I advise you not to spare money for a transfer from the airport to the hotel, since a seaplane flight is worth the money that they charge for it (it has special ventilation windows through which you can take a picture of all the beauty of this wonderful country).
Flight duration - 25 minutes, no more. It was very unexpected that the seaplane did not deliver us immediately to the hotel, but to a raft in the middle of the Indian Ocean, far from the islands. Together with the luggage, the pilots dropped us off, and flew away themselves. Very extreme! But soon a boat sailed, which took us to our island of Ranveli, where we were met with cool towels and treated to cocktails. By the way, while we were sailing, we saw flying fish and dolphins (the second time we saw dolphins from the island).
The Ranveli Village hotel occupies the entire island. The island itself is small, but very green, a lot of all living creatures (especially birds, flying foxes and crabs). Tall palm trees grow all around, strewn with coconuts, many of which lean right over the water, exotic plants and fruits, many flowers, there is a mini-Christmas tree (I think they decorate it for the New Year). There are many hammocks on the island (one is even located on a palm tree above the water), there are also swings with soft cushions where you can have fun. Ranveli Village has a lot of beautiful places where you can take pictures. By the way, those pictures that are posted on the Internet in the description of the hotel do not reflect the real beauty of this island (probably an inexperienced photographer took it). What we saw live turned out to be much more beautiful!
On the one hand, the island has turquoise lagoons, where the maximum depth is waist-deep (expanse for children or for those who are afraid to swim. Here we usually dragged loungers directly into the water, lay and enjoyed the sun), and on the other, there is a house reef where you can swim, dive and watch the fish. I have never seen such a quantity and variety of fish anywhere else: from small to huge and all colors of the rainbow! And to see the inhabitants of the ocean, it is not necessary to dive to the depths with scuba gear, you can just snorkel (i. e. swim on the surface of the water with a mask and snorkel). Eyes run wide from the number of colorful fish and various corals (most of the corals, unfortunately, seem to be dead due to warming water, but new ones are growing in their place. It’s still very beautiful! We really regretted that we didn’t take a box with us on the camera underwater photography). Provided that the water temperature was 27 degrees (we rested from March 2 to March 12.2008), then we don’t want to climb out of the ocean at all. The advantages of the Maldives include the weather, which is favorable all year round (it did not let us down either: the heat was 30-35 degrees, and for all 11 days it rained only once, and after it - a huge rainbow)!
The beach itself is very clean with white sand that does not heat up a bit! The only drawback is that in some places fragments of old corals interfere with the entrance to the water. Could clean up! By the way, do not believe that there are few sunbeds on the beach, there are enough of them and enough for everyone! However, those who wanted to take a place under a palm tree (since the sun is very active in the Maldives - the equator is still - do not forget to take a couple of sunscreens with a strong protection factor), had to get up early and take sunbeds, and so, no one was left without a place ! There are also sun loungers near each house, but there is always a shadow there! This is because of the tropical vegetation, which is so abundant on the island that 2-storey houses (4 rooms in each: the second floor has a balcony, the first floor has a terrace) are not visible from the beach at all. Disadvantages of the rooms: firstly, even though all the houses overlook the ocean, but it is not visible from the room (all because of the same vegetation); secondly, despite the fact that all the rooms are cozy and spacious, they are not 4 *: the furniture and plumbing are all old, the lack of a hairdryer, and the lighting is rather weak (although lighting is probably a problem for all the Maldives, not this hotel). But the situation in the rooms, I think, is not the most important thing in the rest, since we are the smallest part of them (we come to take a shower and sleep), the main thing is that the air conditioner is good, and it works perfectly!
The roomboy cleans the room twice a day and makes the bed in an original way almost every day (even without a tip). Once we left him $10, and on the last night a surprise was arranged for us: the whole bed was strewn with fresh flowers laid out in the form of hearts. Very nice! By the way, I read in reviews about other hotels that money is stolen directly from the safe in the room. On our island, everything was fine with this, and I didn’t hear any complaints from other tourists! Personally, we did not even use the safe, which was free at the reception, but kept money, passports and valuables in a suitcase with a combination lock. Our roomboy didn't even touch the suitcase and valuables that we sometimes forgot to put away.
All the houses in the hotel are located along the main sandy path (there is no asphalt on the island at all, so you can forget about shoes and, especially, about heels, walk barefoot even to bars and restaurants, enjoying this pleasant sand for the entire rest period). The houses located on the lagoon (or restaurant) side have their own beach, unlike the houses along the coral reef (spa side). Therefore, I consider our room number 34 and all rooms from 30 to 45 to be the best on the island, since they have direct access to the beach, which is very convenient!
The island has a spa, a diving center (you can also rent a snorkel kit there - a mask, snorkel and flippers - for $ 10 per day), a swimming pool (although who needs it when there is such an ocean), a conference room with a TV (but shows only one channel), a gym - $ 5 (albeit very small, but no one needed it in such a heat), a library (there are books in Russian left by tourists), an Internet cafe - $ 5 for 15 minutes, billiards - $ 6 per hour, table tennis (racquets can be taken at the reception for free), volleyball court on the beach (tourist tournaments against locals are held daily at 17.30), various water sports on the beach (double kayak - $20 per hour, etc. ). In principle, there is enough entertainment at the Ranveli Hotel, the only thing missing was tennis. There is one restaurant and 3 bars on the island (on the beach, near the pool and next to the restaurant).
The pool bar usually hosts most of the daily (with the exception of Monday - a day off) evening programs: an evening of national Maldivian music, a screening of modern films and films of the underwater world of the Indian Ocean. There you can also play cards and other board games (which are on the bar), and there are also various cocktails, which are 20% off in the evening (the so-called happy hours). Of course, due to the fact that this is still an island and everything is imported, the prices are appropriate: alcoholic cocktails - $ 6-9, bottled beer - $ 4, a bottle of wine - $ 30, a bottle of capital vodka - $ 45, a bottle of tequila - $ 54 , a bottle of water 1.5 liters - $ 3 (water in the Maldives is not very good, because due to the fact that there is nowhere to take it from, they desalinate sea water), ice cream - $ 3-6, a glass of ordinary juice - 2.5 $, freshly squeezed - $ 4. Plus 10% service charge (even for excursions and souvenirs sold at the hotel).
The cocktails are good, very tasty, which cannot be said about freshly squeezed juices, which, either in order to save money or because they do not know how, the bartenders do this: they put ice and a few pieces of fruit in a shaker, pour some water and mix everything . They call it fresh juices! After I saw the whole process, the next time I asked to do the same without water and ice. It turned out not juice, but fruit puree, because apparently they don’t know about juicers and all juices are made in shakers. The juices in their boxes are also not very good (not even juices, but nectars), although I thought that there are a lot of fruits at the equator and juices should be incomparable. In a word, their juices cannot be compared with our Tropicana, J-7 or Rich (we even treated them so that they know what juices should really be)! Therefore, if possible, take drinks to the Maldives with you (we took 5 liters of juice and 3 liters of mineral water so that we had something to drink in the room, and we had enough for 11 days), including alcohol, despite the fact that The Maldives is dry law and you can’t carry it! But we turned out to be smarter and still brought alcohol! The trick was that we put soft drinks in large bottles in a suitcase with clothes, poured vodka and martini into empty 0.5 l Sprite bottles, and rum and cognac from Coca-Cola and put them in a bag along with shampoos, shower gels and all sorts of things. When we went through baggage control at the airport (all things were translucent), we were asked to show what was in the suitcase: they looked at the mineral water for a very long time, shook the bottles to see if a snake appeared (like in vodka), checked the seals on the juice caps - but found nothing. Apparently, having seen so many large 1.5-liter and 2-liter bottles in a suitcase, they were glad that they would find alcohol in them, and did not notice at all the small bottles in the bag, which contained all the most interesting things... This is how we transported alcohol ! Maybe our advice will come in handy for someone, or maybe someone will come up with their own original way.
The main bar is located next to the restaurant, there is also a dance floor, where a disco is held 2 times a week on Wednesdays and Sundays (due to the fact that in their capital - Male - it is difficult to get discs with new music, they play mainly hits 80-90s and a couple of modern songs; therefore, I advise you to bring your favorite CDs with you, or even better, give them as a keepsake) and crab races are held once a week (you pay $ 2 for the crab you like, and if it turns out to be the first, then win a beer).
Due to the fact that Ranveli Island is small, the restaurant is located on the water, which I even consider a plus for the hotel. Firstly, the restaurant has a very beautiful view of the ocean and the island itself (great photos are obtained), and secondly, while sitting and eating at your table, at the same time you feed the fish that are swarming near the restaurant (of course if the table is well placed). We had a nice, friendly waiter, and he gave us a table in one of the best places in the restaurant! In general, it is very convenient that a table and a waiter are assigned to each room number for 2 persons (if desired, immediately behind two rooms for 4 persons), and you do not have to rush to a restaurant to take empty seats, as in Turkey or Egypt, How do you know that no one will sit in your place.
The food in the restaurant is very good! Despite the fact that there is not such a huge variety of dishes as in Turkey, the food is very tasty and always fresh (although in Turkey you will pick up full plates of all sorts of things, and half will be inedible, but here everything is enough and everything is edible). Mostly European cuisine prevails, and due to the fact that the majority of tourists on the island are Italians (there were only 8 of us from Russia), Italian dishes are offered daily: pasta, pizza and lasagna. There is also always meat, chicken and fish, potato dishes (different every day), salads, fresh vegetables, for hot dishes - very tasty soups that cannot be refused. Disadvantages of nutrition: only 3-4 types of fruits (very sweet papaya, amazingly delicious pineapples, apples, oranges, there were also royal bananas and passion fruit a couple of times - it could have been more! ), and very few pastries (although it is unlikely that anyone need something after so much delicious food). In general, the cook in the restaurant is a GOOD WOMAN, he can be given 5 points!! ! Tea, coffee and juices at breakfast are free. We took food 3 times a day, we were satisfied!
The service in the restaurant and bars is very good! In general, the Maldivians are very friendly people (their kind eyes speak about this), who always smile, say hello 10 times a day and treat Russians well! The only drawback is that they absolutely do not know the Russian language. There is no Russian-speaking guide on the island, but all the necessary information about the hotel is at the reception (those who do not know English at all, take an English-Russian dictionary with you). Considering that almost all the staff are educated and know 3-4 languages, then soon, I think, they will also speak Russian, as they have a desire.
As for souvenirs, I can say that it’s better not to buy them on the island, since duty free has a much larger choice and prices are lower due to the fact that there is no 10% markup on each item purchased.
As a result, we spent on everything, without denying ourselves anything, about $ 1000 for two (including souvenirs - $ 150-200, two excursions "Fishing at Sunset" - $ 80 ($ 20 per person for 1 excursion), participation in crab races - no more than $ 5, several games of billiards - about $ 15, kayak rental - $ 20, duty free - about $ 250).
I have not been to other islands and I have nothing to compare the Ranveli hotel with, but I can say one thing: I really liked not so much the hotel as the Maldives themselves! I fell in love with this beautiful country!! ! A trip to the Maldives was a birthday present for me that I will remember for a lifetime! I look at the pictures and I want to go back to this PARADISE… called MALDIVES!! !
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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